A Kiss in the Dreamhouse
by IckieZiegler
Summary: Franco has special plans for Lulu's future.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1:**

Every inch of the room looked like it had faced some sort of destruction. No piece of furniture had been left unturned or un-torn. Each wall had a splash of read, and the distinct red liquid pooled in various parts of the carpet. "There's too much blood," Dante said under his breath just loud enough for his partner and old friend to hear.

"Don't think like that. You don't know that and you don't know it's her blood. Have you gotten in touch with her roommate yet?" Ronnie's usual demeanor left little comfort.

"So, in order to not think that my girlfriend's dead I have to hope her best friend is instead?" His anger continued to rise, because it was all he had left. He had shown up to the door of the frightening apartment with a bouquet of roses hoping to sweet his girlfriend off to dinner. His sixtieth step to showing her how important she was to him after all the mistakes he had made so many months ago. Other men would have just done a few gestures and gone on with life, but he refused to ever let his fateful errors ruin what he cared about most. He had knocked on the door until it had opened itself to reveal the desolated room. In that moment his soul had been sucked out of his chest.

"Look, man, we should probably call Lucky and then get you home. You're no use here and I already have your statement."

"I want to stay! I want to find the bastard that did this!"

"Falconeri! You are no use to this investigation! I'm sorry, but you're not going to be able to think straight. You won't cope hearing about what may or may not have happened to Lulu." Ronnie wasn't wrong. When he took full inventory of the room he dropped the flowers and fell to his knees where his pants got soaked in blood. It had been fresh and the realization hit that he had only missed whoever hurt her by a few minutes. His mind played the possible scenarios on the back of his eyelids without permission. "Go home and get yourself cleaned up. I'm going to work like hell, alright? You have my word."

Reluctantly, Dante agreed. He was escorted to his loft by a uniform officer who offered his own meaningless condolences he didn't have the nerve to listen to. When he walked in the door his brother and her brother had been waiting for him. They both stood to their feet upon his arrival.

Dante's eyes immediately met Lucky's sad expression and burned him in his gut. "Dante…" Lucky was already welling up with his intensely reddening eyes. His body shook from head to toe. "What the hell…" he yelled. Michael was left to look between the two while looking for clues. "Where's my sister!" he demanded equally as loud.

"I don't… I don't know…" he answered in despair.

"Then why aren't we out there looking for her!" Lucky shouted even louder only to be pushed onto the couch by his cousin.

"You need to calm down!" Michael explained as the calm voice of reason. He had developed a true talent for masking his own emotions. "Dante… you need to sit down. Tell us what happened."

"I don't know what happened. I…" He worked his way over and slumped himself into the chair closest to the elevator door. It was hard and more uncomfortable than he remembered. Much like breathing, everything felt wrong. "We were supposed to go to dinner… Mexican…" Lucky began to openly sob.

"What are we supposed to do now?" His brother pulled him out of a daze. He had been staring at the bed trying to ignore the fact that he wouldn't be waking up in bed with her tomorrow. Waking up had always been his favorite part.

"Ronnie said that I was in the way of the investigation and to just stay home…" He was interrupted by the constant buzzing of the phone. It seemed so foreign that he almost forgot to answer.

"Answer it! It could be about Lulu!"

"Falconeri," he answered.

"Hello, Detective," the voice told him in cheerful ominous. Dante perked up where he sat. "How has your evening been? Mine's been a splash," the voice chuckled. "Get it…splash…"

"What the hell do you want you sick freak?" The anger that roared from his voice caught the attention of Lucky and Michael.

"Well… since love looked so good on Lesley Lu… I thought I'd give you a gift."

"If you do anything to her…"

"It's a little too late for 'ifs,' Detective!" His mild chuckle had turned into a hideous laugh. "I thought I'd let you witness your lover's last breath." Tormenting screams sprang to life over the phone. Loud enough that it echoed throughout the entire room until the line had been disconnected.

**Sneak Peak: ****Dante mourns Lulu's death.**

**Author's Note: **Thought it would be nice for something to happen to Lulu on the show to get people to wake up and take notice… and then I realized that waiting was useless so I'm writing it. The song "A Kiss in the Dreamhouse" is a very creepy song talk stalking someone, and it just instantly screamed Franco when I saw the lyrics. I hope you like it. Thank you for reading and please remember to comment.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2:**

Dante spent the night fighting the impulse to close his eyes, because the sounds turned to images against his eyelids. The screams echoed around the walls of his mind. It wasn't a fake scream, but the kind that was brought on by true pain. It was sharp loud and the kind that sprung from intense sobs. He never stopped hearing it along with the laughter telling him that it was her last breath.

His brothers carried him through the motions of getting up in the morning and preparing for the funeral. He put on his nicest suit which happened to be the same suit he wore the last time he and Lulu went to the opera. The same night they got back together for the first and last time, because he had promised he would never lose her again.

Michael and Morgan did their best to hold up the man formerly known as their brother. They had pushed said their own grief for their cousin, who they had known their entire lives, and focused on holding up the soulless shell she had left behind. "Dante… It's time to go to the burial site."

"Burial…." He shook his head where it hung. They were going to burry an empty casket in a symbolic gesture. It seemed to useless. There was no body because the sick bastard had drained her of all her blood. Left it splattered all around her home for anyone to see, and there was nothing left of her. No pieces of skin, bones… he had mangled her body and left them with nothing. Now they were making a place where they could remember that for the rest of their lives. Visit a cold head stone where there was nothing underneath it but the tormenting memory.

People spoke but he wouldn't let himself listen. He didn't see her brothers each shovel a mound of dirt on to the empty coffin. He took no notice to the end of the ceremony or the many pats on his back when he sat in the corner of the Haunted Star during the wake. It was as if all he did was blink and the day had passed. Without realizing it he was back at his home sitting on the end of his bed completely motionless.

"Honey…" His mother sat down next to him in a soft dulcet tone. She sat next to him on the bed and put her arm around his shoulders. "Honey…"

"Ma…" He was stunned by her presents. "What are you doing here?"

"I brought you home… from the funeral…" She was almost shocked by his obliviousness. "Maybe you should get some rest… you definitely need to eat. I'm going to cook some lasagna." She got up and instantly found herself in the kitchen. She took inventory of the empty fridge and empty pantry. "Where's all your food, Dante? When is the last time you went shopping?"

"Lulu does the shopping," his words stabbed himself in the gut.

Internally, Olivia kicked herself and began to dial the only number that came to mind on her cell phone. "Hey, Steve…" His voice made her smile until she looked to see the slumped body of her son. "Do you think you can do me a favor… my son has no groceries in his place… Thank you so much. I want to make lasagna."

"Lulu liked your lasagna… but that might have been because we could microwave it and it still tasted good…" Dante called to her from the bed. His head was in his hands and fingers in his hair.

"Yeah… Yep… You got it all. I'm flattered you remember. Thank you so much," Olivia ended the call.

"What are you doing here?" Her son finally looked at her as he asked his blunt question.

"I'm staying with you. Michael is going to stay with his parents for the next couple of days so I'm going to camp out on your couch."

"You don't have to do that."

"Of course I do! Honey, you're grieving. You can't be expected to take care of yourself. You need time… to find your peace with everything… to eventually let it go… to let Lulu go…"

"I will never let her go!" He stood to his feet and face turned several different shades of red. He blared at his mother, "Franco brutally murdered the love of my life. There is no letting that go, there is no peace… Nothing will ever be okay again! Not until I find that sun of a bitch and rip is heart out with my bare hands!"

**Sneak Peak: ****Carly puts Lulu's death in question. **

**Author's Note: **Thank you so much for reading. Please don't forget to comment. It helps with my confidence to continue… not just me actually. All writers.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3:**

"It doesn't make sense, Jason!" Carly yelled at him in her usual demanding tone. "It's not like him. It's not what he usually does and they haven't found a single body part that belonged to her." Her cousin's untimely death had struck a strong forgotten note within her. Sour revenge plots had been replaced with undying memories of two people who used to rely on each other.

"Carly…" Jason started off as calm and as possible. Slow words in a calm tone to keep her from another burst of hysterics. "There was too much blood at the apartment. Nobody could have lived through that kind of blood loss."

"Who is to say that it was all her blood?"

"They tested it, Carly. It was Lulu's blood."

"Lots of things get tested and are wrong. Come on, how many paternity tests have been paid off or switched. Hell... you've switched a paternity test yourself when you wanted everything to think that Sam's baby was yours. How do we know that those test are accurate."

"Look… Dante and Lucky are cops themselves. We're talking about their friend's sister."

"I don't care! She's not dead! I would know if something had actually happened to her!" she shouted through her thread of tears. Jason wrapped his arms around her and rubbed her back until her breathing returned to normal. "She can't be dead, Jason," she told him as they pulled away and she wiped her eyes. "She'd tell you the same thing, you know, if it were me… We just know. You know that." She wasn't completely wrong. The vast amount of mannerisms and philosophy between Carly and Lulu had been uncanny even if lately they had seemed worlds apart. "If I were missing and some sick freak wanted you to believe I was dead… you'd never give up on me. Neither would she…"

"Alright. Alright," he attempted to appease her. "But Carly, what if she really is dead?"

"She's not!"

"Listen to me, Carly! Your guilt won't bring her back to life. I understand that you spent the last year of her life hating her for letting Dante turn in Michael…"

"How dare you! If you're not going to help me then I'll go find someone who will!" She stormed out the door.

The table was made of a cold and silver metal that made the shoulder blades hurt against the flat surface. Lulu jumped in the threat of panic to find herself tied to the table. Paper crunched underneath her with every shift of her body. Her eyes too inventory of the room. Plain white walls, white marble floor, and nothing else. She kicked her legs against the changes and tugged at her arms. A sticky read fluid was painted on her arms and available skin. Her shirt was hard under spots of dried blood.

Her mind twisted the events in her mind, but her memory was empty. She had just closed her eyes for a moment when she was in the shower and had woken up somewhere completely knew in clothes she had never seen before. It was the very definition of her worst nightmare.

"Good morning, Lulu," a sinister voice greeted her from the dark corner of the room.

"What the hell could you possibly want?" Dante demanded the second he saw the unwelcome woman's face. "I don't want you here, and you know what, I don't think Lulu would either."

"Lulu was my family!" Carly tried to explain calmly.

"Family you took every opportunity to hurt. You wanted to ruin our lives! You wanted to ruin our relationship… everything that mattered to either of us… You wanted to hurt her, Carly. You're not welcome here!" He continued to shout at her, but she remained unmoved in the doorway.

She looked to Olivia who didn't dare look back. She knew the woman had agreed with every word her son said, and there was no ally there any longer. One of the many bridges she had managed to burn for what seemed like no apparent reason any longer. She had hoped to gain some kind of comfort from her own son, but Michael's face was still and unreceptive. "I don't think Lulu's dead." She took the plunge.

"You bitch!" He couldn't sensor himself. "Don't you dare think you're going to use her death as a way to hurt me, because I can assure you Carly nothing will ever hurt me as much as…" He ran out of breath as his eyes welled up. "You don't get to use her in some sick and twisted attempt for revenge. You don't get to use her ever again… EVER!" The last word he screamed in hysteria.

"I truly don't believe Lulu is dead," she genuinely cried. Michael took notice of the sincerity and rushed to her side. "I'd feel it… if she were really dead. She's my family."

"I'd hate to be related to you," Olivia scoffed under her breath.

"Why hasn't Franco sent pictures…? Or left what's left of her body posed for you? Why hasn't he made more phone calls to try and torture you? It doesn't make sense! If she were really dead he'd make sure we'd never forget it. He would…"

"…immortalize her…" Dante interrupted. His eyes went wide.

**Sneak Peak: ****Carly and Dante join forces. **

**Author's Note: **I'm a Carly fan…. I feel the compulse need to remind myself as well as others that. "I love Carly. Mel hates Carly." is said in the chat room under a daily basis. So… just saying.

_**Thank you for reading and all the beautiful comments. Made me want to instantly get started and post the next one. **_


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4:**

"It doesn't make sense…" Dante echoed Carly's words under his breath. "He would have left pictures… Her body…"

"Exactly!" Carly shrieked. "There is absolutely no reason we should believe that she's dead!" She paused for a moment while she passed back and forth in front of the couch. "He has her. Franco has her and he's planning something! We have to go get her!"

"No!" Dante rejoined the moment. "You aren't going to do anything. You've done enough already!"

"I had nothing to do with this!" She was intended on defending herself at the highest octave. "I have nothing to do with Franco. If anything I want the bastard dead as quickly as possible for…" Her breath was sharp as she took a rare moment to reign herself in. Her son was in ear shot and some things were better left unsaid.

"You're just going to make more trouble, Carly. How am I going to find her when you're constantly in the way undermining my every move?"

She shook her head. "I want Lulu back, too," her anger spoke through her teeth. "That sick free has caused enough damage to my family."

Before Dante could serve another rebuttal his brother chimed in. "At least we can agree that you both want the same thing… If Lulu is alive, then isn't it more important to go and find her rather than sit here and argue about who gets to do it? If she is alive that doesn't mean her time isn't running out…"

"I understand why you guys are so quick to believe that Lulu is alive and believe me… I would love nothing more. I miss her too and seeing my son so miserable…" Olivia spoke in a heart-filled calm. "…but we just had her funeral because the police said there was no way a person could survive after losing that much blood…" She held her stomach and winced before continuing, "… maybe you guys are letting hope get the best of you. Maybe neither of you truly want to let go when there is nothing left to hold on to. You need to let go…"

"I will never let go!" Dante yelled at his mother. He couldn't find the will within to censor himself. "I don't have a life without Lulu. She was… is everything! And if there is the tiniest chance that she's still alive then I don't care how small it is. I'm going to find her!"

"Honey…" His mother reached out to touch his arm, but he snapped it away as if her fingers would burn him. Her words had burnt enough.

"Maybe you should leave, Ma," he couldn't look at her while the words let his mouth. "I have plenty of company here already."

The shock hit Olivia's eyes first and her body started to shake where she sat. She waited for a moment for her son to finally face her, but it was the only way to keep himself from impending guilt he'd feel later. "Alright, then…" She stood slowly and grabbed her purse. Her shoulder intentionally bumped Carly's on her way out the door.

"Michael, maybe you should go stay at your mother's for the night. Spend some time with Morgan and Josslyn. They're probably missing their cousin… your cousin…," Dante had taken the words directly out of Carly's mind. Another in a long series of things they'd agreed on but never admitted to.

"I can help find Lulu!" Michael demanded.

"I would feel so much better if you were with your brother and sister." Carly had given the final punch, and Michael had found himself walking out the door as well. "It's amazing how easy it is for us to agree on things...," she started in on him the second they were left alone.

"Rehashing everything isn't going to get us any closer to Lulu," he interrupted.

"You're right. So where do we start?"

"He's had to be watching her…"

"What about the blood?" They both paused for a moment. "He would have had to pay off the forensic specialists working with the PCPD…" She gave a small ironic chuckle. "He probably paid of some of your work buddies."

Dante didn't bother to retort her jubilant accusation, but instead let the reality sink beneath his skin. "We can't use the PCPD. We're going to scrap the resources we can…"

**Sneak Peak: ****Franco shares with Lulu. **

**Author's Note: **I know it's early to start the countdown, but only 16 chapters left. I'm sorry for the shortened length of this chapter. The next one will be quite a whopper so please stay tuned.  
_**Thank you for reading and all the beautiful comments. **_


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5: **

"Good morning, Lulu," Franco practically sung as he swaggered his way over to the cage he was keeping her in. "I'd ask if you slept well, but I got it all on tape," he chuckled. He spent a moment waiting for some sort of response from the thin, pale, blond, but she bore an expressionless stare. He pulled out his cell phone and tilted it so that the angle would be segued on the picture he was about to take. "Smile," he sung again, and of course she didn't. The flashing light caused Lulu to see white and she started to blink. "You're quite a lovely girl even when you look dirty and fragile. I am hoping our children get your looks… that is as long as they get my brains and artistically devious talent."

"Our children?" She was convinced she must have heard him wrong. "We're not having children."

"Of course we are." He mocked the conviction he had heard in her voice. "Why else would you be here, Lulu? I mean, sure, you are connected to a lot of random people who could make Jason dance a little… but… why bother when I can get so much more out you. 3 to 7 kids to be exact." He laughed and her stomach began to turn thinking of the possible ways he was thinking of impregnating her. She made a silent promise to herself that death was a better option. Her hands started to grasp the chains that held her against the back of the cage. "Those are some pretty fun thoughts you must be having. They're written all over your face…" he spoke slowly and savored every minor movement her features made. "As much fun as it is to see you squirm… and trust me… I am definitely enjoying it," he stressed the necessary words to see them sink beneath her skin. "I do not feel that it would be an appropriate type of relationship to have with the mother of my children… at least not yet."

His riddles bounced off her bones and sent shivers down her spine. "What…" Her teeth nearly clattered as she tried to form a proper question.

"I'm all for the Immaculate Conception root, but we both know you're not virgin." He rubbed his hands together and she paced the length of her cage. "I have a friend that I want you to meet later. He's your new obstetrician. He'll be helping us pop out a few babies, and by 'us' I mean you. It's kind of obstetrician with a history in ferity, and he'll make sure we have a large brood in no time… well... 9 months, but we can have a lot of fun in those 9 months. I have videos we can watch, like, your funeral. That was entertaining!"

"They think I'm dead," Lulu confirmed out loud like it was something she had known her whole life and forgotten.

**Sneak Peak: ****Lulu meets the soon to be grandmother of her children. **

**Author's Note: **Only 14 chapters left.

_**Thank you for reading and all the beautiful comments. **_


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